How do quilters keep from quitting?

This morning I would like to pay a tribute to quilters. 


You ladies are stronger women then I am. I am not really quilting. I decided to sew together some pre-cut strips from a couple of on sale jelly rolls, sew some long white strips to them (some of my white shirt fabric arrived and it was really ivory, which I never wear), and channel quilt them.


This is where I am so far:

I forced myself to sew all those strips together and then cut them up with a rotary cutter and the mat on the coffee table here and then sewed those strips together again. Now I have to sew about 475 miles of strips together and then get my husband to drive me over to the local quilt store on the motorcycle for backing and batting.


I am just so not that into this.


Now don't get me wrong. 


I love the look of quilts, when they are finished. One of my sisters is an ace quilter and one of my best friends is even a quilt teacher/expert. I truly appreciate the fine, careful work they do. But I can't face it.


The existential questions for me are:

• why cut something up just to sew it back together (OK we garment sewers do this in a way) and then cut it up again to sew it together again? I feel like I am setting in a sleeve and then cutting it off to sew back on the other side ( Hold on I think I have actually done this).
• why do so much sewing that is exactly the same? It's like having 500 buttonholes on a blouse to me.
• how, and this is the Big Question for me, do women cope with such big pieces of fabric? My intention was to make a queen sized quilt because I have beds that size (although the spouse and I had to get ourselves a king sized because Rascal won't move over). I can't sew something I can't see the edges of. I feel like I have a parachute dropped on my head.

I need to sew clothes, and fast. I have checked my Fed Ex tracking number and my order from FabricMart is due for delivery today. Including a Mystery Box which I have decided will contain silks in my colours.

I think I am going to take my coffee outside and sit on the front steps and wait.

I don't quilt, but

The holiday is preceeding nicely.
My husband is reading an ad for a three day golf school to me as I write this, and I am too busy to hear him. I am blogging aren't I?


Nice man, and I did say I would learn to golf didn't I? So we would do something together. Apparently he would like to expand our vacation togetherness beyond being patient in various fabric stores.


Which reminds me.


Fabricmart Fabrics.


Do you believe that a person drove 2,200 miles and managed to zone in on Fabricmart by 5:03 p.m.?


It closes a 5:00.


However there is mercy in this world. I just received an email that there is a sale on and of course I am in. Plus if I order enough they throw in a Mystery Box. I have had those before and mostly there is stuff in it that is not in my colours, but every once in a while... I will spend some happy time this afternoon filling up my virtual shopping cart, before I go off to the driving range.


And I have been doing some sewing.


Yesterday while my husband went off on his motorcycle to buy me a cake (definition of a middle aged man- they buy a fancy motorcyle and use it to go to the store - I don't mean to be unkind, and I do like my cake) and while he was gone I set up my machine and sewed together a bunch of strips from a jelly roll I bought because it was on sale, not because I quilt.

Two things.  First of all it is amazing how much nicer pictures are when you have actual outdoor sunlight to take them. Second my plan is to cut this up into strips and make a sort of Chinese Coin quilt like this:

I am not sure if I will use black or white or another neutral colour (any advice please from someone with actual taste and a good eye would be appreciated). Also the machine I brought here is my old Pfaff and I don't have the part for covering the feed dogs, (although I think I can make something) to free motion it. And I don't feel like doing a big heavy duty basting thing with a whole quilt top. I am on vacation, so I think I will just channel quilt, stitch and flip the strips instead.

It was extremely soothing to just stitch this up, just to run the machine after all that car time. Soothing is the right word.

It is interesting to me that sewing gives you what you need in different ways at different times. Sometimes it gives you a challenge, stimulation, or makes you feel like a creative and exciting person when your life seems just about everybody else's routine. Sometimes it gives you a future or brings back the best of your past. And sometimes it just settles you down so you can just chill.